| Author | Topic |
|---|
OldBloodandGuts
Posts: 298
Registered:
May 2007
|
|
Book Question
|
Sat, 20 October 2012 01:33
|
 |
I'm interested in reading a personal memoir from a US soldier in North Africa. I don't need a history, just a personal account. Anybody know any good ones?
If not, a memoir from an American soldier in Italy would be almost as good. Anything in the ETO that's pre-Normandy.
Thanks!
|
|
|
Fred the Obscure
Posts: 152
Registered:
April 2006
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Sat, 20 October 2012 09:07
|
|
Greetings OBG,
I haven't seen anything from an American solidier.
However, have you seen/read "The Phantom Major", by Virgina Cowles?
About the SAS charging around the desert in their jeeps shooting the living daylights out of German airfields and raiding supply dumps all over the place.
They had units involved in the "Raid on Barce" scenario - Mediterranean Theatre.
Happy book hunting.
Fred the Obscure,
Durban, South Africa.
|
|
|
jdrommel
Posts: 618
Registered:
March 2006
|
|
|
Almilcar
Posts: 646
Registered:
November 2011
|
|
|
sdnative
Posts: 383
Registered:
February 2009
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Sat, 20 October 2012 16:19
|
|
|
Samuel Fullers great novel and movie "The Big Red One" is his account of the time he served with the 1st Division form North Africa to Germany.
|
|
|
OldBloodandGuts
Posts: 298
Registered:
May 2007
|
|
|
Phread
Posts: 1717
Registered:
December 2008
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Mon, 22 October 2012 21:39
|
|
|
Could it be that North Africa was a learning phase, including some defeats - that doesn't make a ripping yarn?
|
|
|
Sgt Storm
Posts: 685
Registered:
December 2006
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Mon, 22 October 2012 23:01
|
|
| OldBloodandGuts wrote on Mon, 22 October 2012 10:04 |
Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I finally settled on Ernie Pyle's book, Here is Your War (1943).
I'm surprised how few accounts of North Africa and Italy there are. There are countless memoirs for D-Day and the 11 months that followed in Western Europe before the German surrender, but very few on the 20 months or so prior in North Africa and Italy.
Someone needs to get Spielberg and Hanks on this ASAP 
|
I read the following book a few years back and it was pretty good. But its not a personal account.
Early Battles of the Eighth Army: Crusader to the Alamein Line, 1941-42 (Stackpole Military History Series)
|
|
|
sdnative
Posts: 383
Registered:
February 2009
|
|
|
OldBloodandGuts
Posts: 298
Registered:
May 2007
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Tue, 23 October 2012 00:33
|
|
| sdnative wrote on Mon, 22 October 2012 18:31 |
Another awesome book is An Army At Dawn The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 Volume one of the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson.
It is not a personal account but a very well written book full of great history.
Good Luck.
|
Yeah, I loved this book. The second one was good, too. I think the third one comes out next year. Can't wait.
|
|
|
Panzer20
Posts: 17
Registered:
January 2006
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Tue, 23 October 2012 01:39
|
|
|
A definite second for "An Army at Dawn" and the sequel "The Day of Battle"; both of these are great reads with a lot of personal commentary as well. Mr. Atkinson knows how to make history very readable (or great for listening; I also picked up the CD's for the car at a very cheap price on sale at one of the local bookstores).
|
|
|
Almilcar
Posts: 646
Registered:
November 2011
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Tue, 23 October 2012 07:45
|
|
Hello,
Thanks for bringing up "An Army at Dawn", gonna get the Kindle version.
Cheers,
|
|
|
sdnative
Posts: 383
Registered:
February 2009
|
|
|
sdnative
Posts: 383
Registered:
February 2009
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Tue, 23 October 2012 17:00
|
|
| Almilcar wrote on Mon, 22 October 2012 22:45 |
Hello,
Thanks for bringing up "An Army at Dawn", gonna get the Kindle version.
Cheers,
|
Your Welcome
Enjoy!
|
|
|
LooneyLlama
Posts: 482
Registered:
March 2008
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Wed, 24 October 2012 02:57
|
|
Well, I have one you may want to use but it hasn't been published yet! My dad, who's 91, has written his memoirs about his experiences in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He used to tell us a lot of stories when we were kids and we told him he should write a book. He finally did. It's totally completed and what parts he let me read, it's well written. Unfortunately, he doesn't want to get it published yet. I have no idea what he's waiting for. I imagine there are some parts that he doesn't want us to read. Though, even now, he still writes articles for an Italian-American magazine.
Anyway, this thread has encouraged me to try again to get him to send it in. Wish me luck!
P.S. 'An Army at Dawn' and 'The Day of Battle' are absolutely terrific. Rick Atkinson brings the Mediterranean Theater to life. It is history that is not dry and very readable.
[Updated on: Wed, 24 October 2012 03:00]
|
|
|
OldBloodandGuts
Posts: 298
Registered:
May 2007
|
|
Re:Book Question
|
Wed, 24 October 2012 05:48
|
|
| LooneyLlama wrote on Tue, 23 October 2012 20:57 |
Well, I have one you may want to use but it hasn't been published yet! My dad, who's 91, has written his memoirs about his experiences in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He used to tell us a lot of stories when we were kids and we told him he should write a book. He finally did. It's totally completed and what parts he let me read, it's well written. Unfortunately, he doesn't want to get it published yet. I have no idea what he's waiting for. I imagine there are some parts that he doesn't want us to read. Though, even now, he still writes articles for an Italian-American magazine.
Anyway, this thread has encouraged me to try again to get him to send it in. Wish me luck!
P.S. 'An Army at Dawn' and 'The Day of Battle' are absolutely terrific. Rick Atkinson brings the Mediterranean Theater to life. It is history that is not dry and very readable.
|
That's amazing -- tell your dad there's a whole generation that barely knows we were in North Africa, and his story is desperately needed!
Agreed on the Atkinson books, too. Not only are they not dry, but they give a lot of facts and avoid a lot of the rah-rah stuff that earlier histories (even Ambrose, although I love him) were prone to.
|
|
|
